This year was SO much fun with Ryanne. She had a great Christmas - got WAY too much stuff, but seems to love every bit of it. Honestly, she still hasn't finished opening all of her presents. I think she's a little overwhelmed by the process. She got to the point on Christmas Day where she was opening stuff and throwing it aside to get to the next thing with paper. She loved the paper, but didn't stop long enough to even look at the toy inside. I gues she's still a little young to completely understand how it works. At that point, we distracted her and the present opening stopped. There are still about half a dozen presents under the tree for her. We'll make sure we open them before we leave.
Let's see, what did she get.
Santa brought her a Neurosmith Maestro set with 3 extra cartidges. She loves playing with the blocks. It's a little buggy, but I guess that's why they went out of business. It's still a neat toy. I don't know how long it will last.
Chrys and I gave her a baby doll and stroller. She keeps trying to give the baby its bottle (when she's not chewing on the bottle herself). She LOVES pushing the stroller around the kitchen and back yard.
Beyond that, she got Little People galore. Grandma and Grandpa G got her Noah's Ark and the extra animals. It was one of the later presents so she's not played with it much, but I know it will be a big hit at home. Aunt Fyoire gave her a Little People Knight and Dragon (shocker a dragon! hee) that RC shoved into the Ark, too.
She got quite a few books and seems to be enjoying them. She got some clothes - always good. She also got E-L-M-O (the dancing one) and seems as amused by that as she is the Chicken Dance one. I think that will stay here until next year. Lots of stuffed animals from Gammaree that she likes, especially the cat.
Unfortunately, she also seems to have gotten a stomach virus or something. She pitched her cookies this afternoon and hasn't kept anything down since. She also had a fever (103 by the time we got to the hotel) so we gave her some Tylenol and it's back down to 100 or so which makes us happier. The good news is that right before she got sick the first time, we found her a small Elmo that doesn't do anything for her to cuddle with.
Lilypie Kids Birthday tickers
Monday, December 27, 2004
Sunday, December 19, 2004
The Baby Room
One of the more interesting aspects of every big store or location we've been to so far is the "baby room". I have seen them in every 'mall' setting and also at the Haneda airport. This is a room with, at the least, a changing table and a semi-private room for nursing. In the bigger stores, they have scales and measuring tapes near the changing tables. Often there are benches that are used while waiting for a room, dads waiting for moms or bottle feeding.
The nursing rooms vary from mini-cubicles without doors to curtained shower stall looking things. They always have a table or something and a little chair that is the perfect height for mom to sit in and nurse without a stool.
While this means I assume it's not ok to just latch her on wherever, it's kind of nice to have the bit of privacy, away from stray glances - not that they bother me anymore, but I know it often means others are bothered and, while it's none of their business, I hate making others uncomfortable. It can be semi-inconvenient to have to track down the rooms when RC's fussy and wants her milk, it's nice to be able to close the curtain and block out the distractions that make it take forever when we're out.
Oh, and thanks to yesterday's baby room, I found out that Ryanne is about 9.5kg with her clothes (no wonder the L 9-11kg diapers seemed too big) and about 75cm long with her shoes.
The nursing rooms vary from mini-cubicles without doors to curtained shower stall looking things. They always have a table or something and a little chair that is the perfect height for mom to sit in and nurse without a stool.
While this means I assume it's not ok to just latch her on wherever, it's kind of nice to have the bit of privacy, away from stray glances - not that they bother me anymore, but I know it often means others are bothered and, while it's none of their business, I hate making others uncomfortable. It can be semi-inconvenient to have to track down the rooms when RC's fussy and wants her milk, it's nice to be able to close the curtain and block out the distractions that make it take forever when we're out.
Oh, and thanks to yesterday's baby room, I found out that Ryanne is about 9.5kg with her clothes (no wonder the L 9-11kg diapers seemed too big) and about 75cm long with her shoes.
Friday, December 17, 2004
New tricks every day
Ryanne's vocabulary is suddenly exploding. Today she muttered 'sues' when I was putting her shoes on to go out. She's also working on "mini mmm" which is either Minnie or Mickey Mouse. She gets very excited about either one. "Dider" continues to come out periodically. Also today she popped off with "baby" and "dababy" while I was talking about her being the baby while I drove around. She'll say "dentle" while she pulls the cats' tails or fistfuls of fur. She even remembers to give up a "tantoo" every now and then when you give her something. She's working on Elmo - right now it's closest to "memo" - who is one of her favorites.
I'm also amazed at what she recognizes. She correctly retrieves a book and puts her arms up into chicken formation when I ask about the chicken dance. She knows what her toys are. She knows where the potty is. She knows what noise the cats make - "maaar" - and what noise the dogs make - "aaaaaf" in a shrill little girl voice. She'll lean forward with her nose out when I ask if she wants to smell something. She knows what it means to not throw stuff on the floor, even though she'll do it anyway. She also knows what I mean when I tell her to stay out of the cat's food, but will still pick it up piece by piece and move it around or put it in the water. She knows what the TV is *sigh*.
She still won't let me put clips in her hair, but I've been better about keeping her in girly clothing so I've gotten fewer questions about my little boy.
She still loves music and will quickly dance whenever any song comes on the radio or MP3, even if we're in the car. She's got quite a car dance.
She is also becoming more fascinated by other babies. Today she wanted to pet a little boy's head - he was older - and every time we saw another baby, she got SO excited. I wish there were more opportunities for socialization here, like Gymboree or a daycare I understood. I guess we'll have to settle for whoever we run into at the park and make an effort to get there more often.
Oh, and in the ever increasing repertoire of ways to wake mommy up (usually raspberries to any exposed skin with the occasional hug or kiss), dada has taught her that I'm a pony. Now she'll climb on my back or tummy and bounce up and down until I buck around and throw her off to fits of screaming and giggling. Must find way to repay...
I'm also amazed at what she recognizes. She correctly retrieves a book and puts her arms up into chicken formation when I ask about the chicken dance. She knows what her toys are. She knows where the potty is. She knows what noise the cats make - "maaar" - and what noise the dogs make - "aaaaaf" in a shrill little girl voice. She'll lean forward with her nose out when I ask if she wants to smell something. She knows what it means to not throw stuff on the floor, even though she'll do it anyway. She also knows what I mean when I tell her to stay out of the cat's food, but will still pick it up piece by piece and move it around or put it in the water. She knows what the TV is *sigh*.
She still won't let me put clips in her hair, but I've been better about keeping her in girly clothing so I've gotten fewer questions about my little boy.
She still loves music and will quickly dance whenever any song comes on the radio or MP3, even if we're in the car. She's got quite a car dance.
She is also becoming more fascinated by other babies. Today she wanted to pet a little boy's head - he was older - and every time we saw another baby, she got SO excited. I wish there were more opportunities for socialization here, like Gymboree or a daycare I understood. I guess we'll have to settle for whoever we run into at the park and make an effort to get there more often.
Oh, and in the ever increasing repertoire of ways to wake mommy up (usually raspberries to any exposed skin with the occasional hug or kiss), dada has taught her that I'm a pony. Now she'll climb on my back or tummy and bounce up and down until I buck around and throw her off to fits of screaming and giggling. Must find way to repay...
Thursday, December 16, 2004
Ok...it's not all roses
Ryanne's sleep patterns have been getting REALLY screwy. She transitioned down to one nap a few weeks ago. Actually, she had started while we were in Texas, but reverted when we messed her up coming here. It took a couple of weeks in Japan, but she now naps right after lunch, pretty reliably.
The problem, and I use problem loosely because I'm only slightly bothered by it since she sleeps with me and I can nap with her if she wakes too much, is that she is waking quite frequently at night. And she doesn't just wake and roll over and go back to sleep. She wakes up screaming in terror and wants to nurse for the comfort. Not nursing her results in an escalation of the screaming into fit stage with ragged breathing and coughing. This wakes up Chrys, which is really why I consider it a problem. If she just woke me, I'd be fine, but waking the 'dada' means he's not as well rested for work and that's bad.
She has gone from one waking at around 4-5am (understandable to be hungry after 10 hours at her age) to 2-6 wakings from 9pm to 7am. The nights with 6 are the hard ones. Typical has become around 3.
Honestly, this is part of why I look forward to really messing up her schedule. I'm hoping we can get rid of this mess when we fix the trans-Pacific flight issues. It worked moderately well before. In the meantime, I'd settle for her going down easily and only waking when I come to bed and at 5am.
Maybe it's the teeth, maybe she's growing (she has been eating a TON), who knows. I'd like my good sleeper back now, though.
The problem, and I use problem loosely because I'm only slightly bothered by it since she sleeps with me and I can nap with her if she wakes too much, is that she is waking quite frequently at night. And she doesn't just wake and roll over and go back to sleep. She wakes up screaming in terror and wants to nurse for the comfort. Not nursing her results in an escalation of the screaming into fit stage with ragged breathing and coughing. This wakes up Chrys, which is really why I consider it a problem. If she just woke me, I'd be fine, but waking the 'dada' means he's not as well rested for work and that's bad.
She has gone from one waking at around 4-5am (understandable to be hungry after 10 hours at her age) to 2-6 wakings from 9pm to 7am. The nights with 6 are the hard ones. Typical has become around 3.
Honestly, this is part of why I look forward to really messing up her schedule. I'm hoping we can get rid of this mess when we fix the trans-Pacific flight issues. It worked moderately well before. In the meantime, I'd settle for her going down easily and only waking when I come to bed and at 5am.
Maybe it's the teeth, maybe she's growing (she has been eating a TON), who knows. I'd like my good sleeper back now, though.
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
Bar the door!
Maybe that will hold her. Unfortunately, the door knob doesn't seem to cut it anymore. The doors here (the ones that don't slide, at least) have french handles. Ryanne no longer finds those challenging. They are merely the mundane inconvenience that prevents her from running helter skelter throughout the house. She can j*u*s*t reach if she stands on her tippy tippy toes. At that point, leverage is in her favor and as she falls down and backwards, the door pops open. *sigh*
Unfortunately, ALL of our doors have this type of handle, including the front door. This means we have to be better about locking it so she can't completely escape. I intend to look at devices to assist in babyproofing when we're in the US.
Oh, and you want a fit...hold the door shut. Guaranteed on the floor, tears in the eyes, screaming tantrum. Fun...really.
Unfortunately, ALL of our doors have this type of handle, including the front door. This means we have to be better about locking it so she can't completely escape. I intend to look at devices to assist in babyproofing when we're in the US.
Oh, and you want a fit...hold the door shut. Guaranteed on the floor, tears in the eyes, screaming tantrum. Fun...really.
Cat toy
We taught Ryanne how to play with the cats. I'm pretty sure it's more entertaining for her than it is for the cats, but it really amuses us and, in the end, that's what matters. We gave her a rope and taught her how, if she drags the rope around the apartment, the cats will chase the end of the rope. She just SQUEALS with delight over this. She'll pull it around the corner, feel the tension that means a cat got it and run back squealing which makes the cat run away. She'll play for quite some time with them. Even better is if we chase her with the rope so she can 'chase' the cats. I think she's going to fall over laughing one day.
She's also learning to ham for the camera. I am trying to get her to learn what "cheese" means so she'll smile extra big. Tonight, though, she was covered in spaghetti sauce so Chrys grabbed the camera. Without prompting, she gave him this huge spaghetti filled mouth grin. It's horrible and SO cute at the same time.
She's also got the chicken arms down. She'll walk around dancing like that and will give us a couple of flaps when Elmo plays. It's so funny.
She's still playing with blocks and stacking. Amazing to watch the brain development.
Oh, and today we got a Christmas card from my "mom's board" card exchange. Ryanne recognized Jaida from the board pix and got the BIGGEST grin on her face when she saw her picture on the card. She giggled and grinned and wanted the card. Once I gave it to her, she kept turning it over - maybe looking for the rest of Jaida? - she was just fascinated by the whole thing.
She's also learning to ham for the camera. I am trying to get her to learn what "cheese" means so she'll smile extra big. Tonight, though, she was covered in spaghetti sauce so Chrys grabbed the camera. Without prompting, she gave him this huge spaghetti filled mouth grin. It's horrible and SO cute at the same time.
She's also got the chicken arms down. She'll walk around dancing like that and will give us a couple of flaps when Elmo plays. It's so funny.
She's still playing with blocks and stacking. Amazing to watch the brain development.
Oh, and today we got a Christmas card from my "mom's board" card exchange. Ryanne recognized Jaida from the board pix and got the BIGGEST grin on her face when she saw her picture on the card. She giggled and grinned and wanted the card. Once I gave it to her, she kept turning it over - maybe looking for the rest of Jaida? - she was just fascinated by the whole thing.
Saturday, December 11, 2004
There's a person in there
Ryanne spent most of Friday playing with Weebleville. Its batteries are mostly dead and I'm still trying to decide if this is good or bad. She's not all that interested in the music, except to play with turning it on and off. Mostly, she likes the little town and the people and putting the people in the doors and slides and turntables, etc. I think the Little People she's getting for Christmas will be a big hit, suddenly. She must have spent an hour moving them around and playing by herself. Amazing...
She's also working on "diaper". I left her with Chrys today while L'il Bro went to the dentist. At one point he says she started pointing and they ended up in the bedroom changing her "dido". He repeated diaper and they went through various renditions. By the time I got home to the stinky diaper, she was up to "dider". This will come in QUITE handy.
She's also starting to differentiate her signs for "eat" and "water" which makes my life easier. "Eat" appears to be all of the fingers at the mouth, whereas "water" is one finger. She is still quite capable of signing for "milk" and does it often. She also has a variety of ways of signing "more", but all get the point across.
Turns out you can buy sand toys at the 100¥ store at the train station so she now has 2 buckets, some shovels and some molds. Cost 200¥ for 2 sets. We went to the park today so she could play with them and she had a great time. She dug in the dirt, ate some sand, played on the slides with Chrys, even went down sitting up many, many times. What really got me was that, despite the fun digging in and touching the dirt, there was NO way she was going to sit in it. I guess it's still too dirty. Nevertheless, all in all, it was a good time.
She's finally starting to play with stacking things and has managed to stack 2 objects a couple of times. There's nothing really repeatable, but I'm glad she's starting to work on those skills.
Oh, and everything is a purse. If it's got a handle or an opening, it will be on the arm. She loves my bracelets and watch and this canva Hello Kitty bag we picked up for 500¥ that now holds all of her sand toys. She loved toting that through the park...so cute to watch. She'll even sling my purse strap on her arm or around her neck and drag it through the apartment. She may be a girlie girl after all...who knows.
She's also working on "diaper". I left her with Chrys today while L'il Bro went to the dentist. At one point he says she started pointing and they ended up in the bedroom changing her "dido". He repeated diaper and they went through various renditions. By the time I got home to the stinky diaper, she was up to "dider". This will come in QUITE handy.
She's also starting to differentiate her signs for "eat" and "water" which makes my life easier. "Eat" appears to be all of the fingers at the mouth, whereas "water" is one finger. She is still quite capable of signing for "milk" and does it often. She also has a variety of ways of signing "more", but all get the point across.
Turns out you can buy sand toys at the 100¥ store at the train station so she now has 2 buckets, some shovels and some molds. Cost 200¥ for 2 sets. We went to the park today so she could play with them and she had a great time. She dug in the dirt, ate some sand, played on the slides with Chrys, even went down sitting up many, many times. What really got me was that, despite the fun digging in and touching the dirt, there was NO way she was going to sit in it. I guess it's still too dirty. Nevertheless, all in all, it was a good time.
She's finally starting to play with stacking things and has managed to stack 2 objects a couple of times. There's nothing really repeatable, but I'm glad she's starting to work on those skills.
Oh, and everything is a purse. If it's got a handle or an opening, it will be on the arm. She loves my bracelets and watch and this canva Hello Kitty bag we picked up for 500¥ that now holds all of her sand toys. She loved toting that through the park...so cute to watch. She'll even sling my purse strap on her arm or around her neck and drag it through the apartment. She may be a girlie girl after all...who knows.
Saturday, December 04, 2004
The park
On Friday (yikes, that was just yesterday), we went to the park and let Ryanne run around for about an hour. She thought this was quite possibly the coolest thing ever.
The park across the street is huge! They've got 3 playing areas for the kids, a pool (actually, I think it's 5 of them), and at least one stadium with a walking track on the outside of it.
Play area 1 was covered in fine gravel that R thought was great fun to dig about in. She started wandering through and collecting big rocks as we went. Eventually she ran out of room in her tiny little hands and started dropping them. Not long after that, she dropped them all and gave up. In this section, there are 2 old fire trucks and a train for climbing and playing on. We put her up in one of the fire trucks and she sat and turned the wheel and pushed on the horn (for which I uttered a honk honk). There are also rope ladders that she only had interest in chewing on. There is a maze made out of bars where she got great enjoyment out of running under the dividers while I chased her through the normal way. There were two types of teeter totters, one that bounced which she adored and one that was the normal lever set up which she didn't get much out of.
Then, we moved to area 2 which is the first of the sand pits. She LOVED digging in the sand and kept trying to steal the other kiddies sand tools - mental note for the summer that she needs some stuff for playing in the sand. This area also had lots of metal & plastic platforms and bridges and SLIDES. She loved the slide. She even made it down once still sitting up instead of having fallen over, making her quite pleased with herself. There was one from the platforms that she would go down, but the favorite went from play area 2 to area 3 and she got to walk up a ramp to get back...great fun. We even got to the point where I could ask if she wanted to go again and get an emphatic nod.
Area 3 had a wooden playscape with pulleys that the kids could use to pull buckets of sand up and play with them. Ryanne mostly enjoyed being on the ground and playing in the bucket as it got pulled up by L'il Bro. She tired of this area rather quickly, though.
All in all, a great visit. We got home and she took a 75 minute nap - her second nap of the day so that duration is unheard of. Guess we'll have to get to the park more often.
The park across the street is huge! They've got 3 playing areas for the kids, a pool (actually, I think it's 5 of them), and at least one stadium with a walking track on the outside of it.
Play area 1 was covered in fine gravel that R thought was great fun to dig about in. She started wandering through and collecting big rocks as we went. Eventually she ran out of room in her tiny little hands and started dropping them. Not long after that, she dropped them all and gave up. In this section, there are 2 old fire trucks and a train for climbing and playing on. We put her up in one of the fire trucks and she sat and turned the wheel and pushed on the horn (for which I uttered a honk honk). There are also rope ladders that she only had interest in chewing on. There is a maze made out of bars where she got great enjoyment out of running under the dividers while I chased her through the normal way. There were two types of teeter totters, one that bounced which she adored and one that was the normal lever set up which she didn't get much out of.
Then, we moved to area 2 which is the first of the sand pits. She LOVED digging in the sand and kept trying to steal the other kiddies sand tools - mental note for the summer that she needs some stuff for playing in the sand. This area also had lots of metal & plastic platforms and bridges and SLIDES. She loved the slide. She even made it down once still sitting up instead of having fallen over, making her quite pleased with herself. There was one from the platforms that she would go down, but the favorite went from play area 2 to area 3 and she got to walk up a ramp to get back...great fun. We even got to the point where I could ask if she wanted to go again and get an emphatic nod.
Area 3 had a wooden playscape with pulleys that the kids could use to pull buckets of sand up and play with them. Ryanne mostly enjoyed being on the ground and playing in the bucket as it got pulled up by L'il Bro. She tired of this area rather quickly, though.
All in all, a great visit. We got home and she took a 75 minute nap - her second nap of the day so that duration is unheard of. Guess we'll have to get to the park more often.
Thursday, December 02, 2004
Pia pia pia
This has been one of RC's favorite things to say lately. We have been trying to figure out where it came from. All of a sudden, l'il bro looks at us one day as we're discussing it and says "that show we watched the first day...the guy with the piano singing." Sure enough the sequence came on the show again a few days later and Ryanne got all excited as she played her air piano. Chrys and I keep getting the song stuck in our heads and we sing it for her everyone once in a while...cracks her up.
She also says "bagah bagah bagah" sometimes. I'm wondering if this is from the Chicken Dance Elmo she has. Haven't field tested that one, yet.
There was so much more I wanted to say, but it's slipped my mind right now. Guess I'll owe another update soon.
She also says "bagah bagah bagah" sometimes. I'm wondering if this is from the Chicken Dance Elmo she has. Haven't field tested that one, yet.
There was so much more I wanted to say, but it's slipped my mind right now. Guess I'll owe another update soon.
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